Which to use
“industries” is a noun and “industrious” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #3,501
- “industries” frequency rank
- #37,513
- “industrious” frequency rank
- 41014
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | industries | industrious |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | plural of industry | Hard-working and persistent. |
Where the eye mixes industries and industrious
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 9 letters in sequence. industries runs 10 letters (VCCVCCCVVC) against industrious's 11 (VCCVCCCVVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between industries and industrious
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: industries is /ˈɪndəstɹiz/ while industrious is /ɪnˈdʌstɹi.əs/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 41014, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
industries is recorded at frequency rank #3,501, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈɪndəstɹiz/. industrious is at rank #37,513, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ɪnˈdʌstɹi.əs/.
Glosses for this pair are partially populated in our dataset, but the full side-by-side definitions above should still guide you to the right choice.
With a confusion score of 41014, this pair ranks #262,308 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of industries vs industrious
Shared letters: dinrstu. Private to "industries": e. Private to "industrious": o.
"industries" · 10 letters · shape VCCVCCCVVC · "industrious" · 11 letters · shape VCCVCCCVVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- industries ← idnustries · inddustries · indsutries · indusrties · indusstries · industires · industreis · industriess
- industrious ← idnustrious · inddustrious · indsutrious · indusrtious · indusstrious · industirous · industriosu · industriouss
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "industries" and "industrious" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary English text, does "industries" or "industrious" show up more?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "industries" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "industrious" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #262,308 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "industries" and "industrious" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "illustrious vs industrious". Nearby pair
- Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes
Confusion rank #262,308 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.